On the local television station, WLKY, Harper said, “The building, being as old as it is, and made out of wood and thin metal; it just caught on fire and went up like a match,” Harper said. “We were working on a motorcycle and trying to get it started and it backfired, and the motorcycle caught on fire. Before we could control the fire, the fire spread.”

He says the fire started when he and a friend were trying to start a motorcycle and the vehicle backfired.